I've Decided

Today I take control. This is my year. No fear.

"I choose to live by choice, not by chance; to make changes, not excuses; to be motivated and not manipulated; to be useful, not used. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity; to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others." 
                                                                                                            - Anonymous

Ten Year Love Affair

I love my bed. I say this unapologetically and in all earnestness. When I am away on vacation, it is what I miss more than anything else. When I return, I always feel like throwing myself across it with arms outstretched to give it a big hug and tell it how much I love it (and a couple of times I have actually done this...shhhh!)

This luxurious, queen-sized, pillow-topped beauty was a present to myself when I turned 30. After 30 years of sleeping in twin-sized beds, I figured it was time to enter the world of the grown-ups - at least in this one way. I also justified the purchase with the fact that I had started experiencing back problems. Let me tell you - once you sleep on a pillow-top, queen-sized bed, you can never go back to a plain, old twin.

Soon after purchasing the bed, I found an amazing down-filled comforter that was like the icing on the cake. There is nothing quite like crawling into your comfortable bed covered by fresh, clean sheets, then pulling a soft, down-filled comforter up to your neck.

Just like with many things in life, there are many days I take my lovely bed for granted. But then I go on vacation, or I am extra exhausted, or I put on new sheets.... and once again I crawl into bed feeling spoiled and filled with gratitude for my bed. Sometimes I wake up on a weekend and just lay there, stretching and enjoying the feeling of my bed. I know, I know. Weird. Maybe a little crazy. But we have been together for many years and I anticipate many more to come....

The Most Adorable 4-year-old in the World

I know you have been wondering who the most adorable 4-year-old in the world is....well, you don't have to wonder any more! I have pictures of him for you to admire right here in my blog. This little nephew of mine turned 4 yesterday. I am lucky enough to live close enough to take him on a special birthday outing for part of the day.

When I came to pick him up at his house, he was sitting on his porch in his swimming clothes and flip-flops. (Good thing the rain had stopped). He had decided that he wanted me to take him swimming. As he hurried to get into my car, his dad asked him where he was going. He said "I'm going on a birthday date!" You know, it was the best date I've had in ages.

This little guy loves firetrucks and firemen, and I had found a hamburger joint in Springville with an old firetruck parked outside. We got french fries and drinks and explored the truck. Then we went swimming at the indoor Springville Pool. Despite his chattering teeth and mildly blue lips, he had a perpetual grin on his face and he "swam" around the almost deserted pool.

Dinner and presents and a "Blue Monster" cake (apparently there is a Facebook game with a blue monster?) rounded out the evening. Happy Birthday to a boy who has his Aunt wrapped around his little finger for sure.

After swimming...

This is what he looked like when we pulled up to his house after swimming. He figured out how to get a song to repeat on my ipod, so I listened to "Purple People Eater" the whole way home while he took a power nap...

Hanging out with baby sis.

He LOVES trucks!

The Blue Monster is actually eating an animal...cracker, that is. 

Labor Day Weekend

This year, Labor Day weekend was full of family fun! New baby Bea was blessed on Sunday and was adored by her newest cousin-fans. Plus, all the cousins were quite exhilarated by their time together. I nicknamed the 5 and 6-year-old (in front in the picture below) the "noisy twins".

My backseat...barely big enough for three...

 

Yes, I am a bad influence on my niece sometimes... and she IS taller than me, now...

The center of attention...

In Memory

In a couple of days, it will be the birthday of one of my wonderful friends of bygone years. I have been thinking about her for the past few days, and I wanted to write down some memories.

I met Debbie Brimhall when I was about 10 years old and she moved into our small community in the Spanish Fork Canyon. I remember being a little intimidated and a teensy bit jealous - she was tall, thin, blonde, confident, and beautiful. She was the youngest in her family and had 2 glamorous teenage sisters still living at home. Her life seemed a little more interesting than that of the rest of us for some reason.

All of the teenagers who grew up in our area were close-knit, as there were only a few of us. We rode the bus to school together (suffering our driver's hated country music), we attended church and youth activities together, and we hung out together on the weekends. But I wasn't particularly close to Debbie until our senior year of high school. It was then that we bonded through long AP Biology study sessions, hung out with some mutual friends, and ended up going on a Church history tour together with a high school seminary group after graduation.

Debbie & I at Far West, Missouri

After high school, Debbie attended Ricks College in Idaho with a few of my other friends. I went straight to BYU (a whole other story). Our second year of college, Debbie moved back to Provo and we were roommates, in a tiny 2 bedroom BYU apartment a couple of blocks south of BYU. Two other friends that we grew up with, Sharman and Alyson, were also our roommates. It was an amazing year and a half! I loved becoming even closer to her, and getting to borrow her clothes was an added perk. She was fun, spiritual, loyal, and kind. She taught me a lot of things - one of those I remember is to tip your waiter or waitress! She was a waitress at Prestwich Farms and I heard many horror stories of the crazy work she had to do - plus, I knew she only made about $2.50 an hour without tips. She was a great waitress, so she usually made pretty good tips, but sometimes people were stingy or even didn't leave a tip at all. I think of Debbie every time I visit a restaurant.

Home from working as a waitress at Prestwich Farms, where she met her husband. 

 In the fall of '92 (oops, I'm going to age myself here), Debbie got engaged and prepared to get married in December, while I prepared to leave on my mission at the beginning of February. We were going our separate ways, but we supported each other and I remember a lot of late-night talks about life.

Debbie's wedding day at the Salt Lake City Temple.

 Over the years, Debbie had 2 children and moved to southern Utah and then back up north. We saw each other infrequently, at various occasions or for lunch once in awhile. She was always one of those friends that I never felt distanced from, though - you know, the ones you can go a couple of years without seeing, then when you see them, it is like only a couple of days have passed. I wish we had facebook back then - I'm sure we would have stayed more closely linked to each other's lives. 

I knew a little bit about some health problems Debbie was having, but not a lot. She was never one to complain or tell a lot of details about her pain and inconvenience (at least not to me). I believe she contracted giardia and then later, crohns, which is an auto-immune disease that effects the intestinal tract. Now, granted, I may be mistaken. I was not in close contact with Deb during this time, and I am relying on my old, faulty memory bank.

In 2006, Debbie's disease got a lot worse and she died from complications, leaving behind her husband, two young children, and a lot of family and friends. I remember vividly taking an afternoon off of work to attend her funeral. It was surreal and very, very sad. Years later, it still doesn't quite seem real. Someone I knew and loved for so long, who is a large part of my growing-up memories and only a couple of months older than me, is gone from this earth already. It reminds me that life is precious and we never really know how much time we have. I still think about Deb every once in awhile. I am grateful that she was part of my life.